With the group in a standoff on the roof, Wispa and Bruno showed up. They were unsure if we were on the brink of fleeing or still on the job, but as they heard that we were still going for the cybertech, they crossed the street and climbed up the rope Snips lowered down for them.

The group spread out to watch all sides, and some movement was heard on the top floor, then someone opened the window to the alleyway. Wispa shot at the person, and several gangers started to shoot up through the roof to the approximate area of Wispa.

Big blind gun battle: The gangers shot blindly up, the team shot blindly down, several people were hit on both sides.

Martine Eloise went to watch out to the east, to make sure this was not a distraction.
But gangers tried to climb up on the north side. Adelard shot down and killed one of them while Snips cut the rope. The grapnel remained, and she took it.

Mobile Assault Team

Then a car arrived and stopped a bit southeast of the building. Four guys in tactical armor came out and opened up with machine guns. Snips called a retreat: “This is likely only one of several cars with reinforcements. We should get out of here while we have a chance.”

The people on the top floor kept firing through the roof, Martine Eloise and the weaker retainers hunkered down and kept in cover, but Royston, Wispa, Darwin and Woody engaged the relief party; Veil made sure nobody was to come up on the north. Snips and Randal and Adelard shot down through the roof.

In the battle, Wispa and Royston got wounded, and Woody got it and died.

Since the firing on the car did not really help a lot, and the shooters, particularly Royston, were also hit in the backs through the roof, Snips cut the losses and rappelled down the south front of the building to the car, in order to engage the enemy on the ground and lead an escape to the south.

Bruno and Randal followed her right away; Martine Eloise moved the robot dog to the edge and fired, but to no avail. The constant gunfire started to eat through our ammo supplies and drowned out any other noises … basically we had plunged the block into warzone status. But we had no supply lines going, so we could not win it in the long run.

Don’t forget the cyberware

“Don’t forget the cyberware!” called Royston, and rolled Woody’s body off the edge to spare himself the work of carrying him – he wanted to take all the valuable cyberparts inside Woody’s body with him.

Martine Eloise followed his example and took Flynn’s cyberdeck off him, to bring it back home. She remembered he had some function on it that she did not know, but wanted to learn.

Snips crossed the road and engaged the enemy from the flank, caught return-fire and got hit multiple times, but also took out one and wounded one, who was then taken out by Randal.

More and more people rappelled down, and finally the car-crew was overcome and slain. Meanwhile, Wispa and Royston got healed, in the last minute, as they were down to 2 HP each.

Dog War

Suddenly the door burst open, the gangers inside had noticed the movement to the southern side and came with war dogs and guns. Martine Eloise stood right there with the cyberdeck and called: “I’ve got the cyberdecks!” when the newcomers opened up on her and felled her. No more function-learning for Martine … and with her the string of personal relations who come to Nocte Urbi to ask Snips what happened finally ends.

Bruno chucked a stun grenade right at the dogs, Adelard, Snips, Kendal and Randal opened up on the men. They killed two – the dog minders! – and after the flash-bang the dogs lost their morale check and legged it. Very lucky! By experience, dogs are tenacious and dangerous foes.

Skull OP

One of the survivors sported fresh operation marks on the head, and Royston knew immediately what that meant: “He’s the target!” he yelled, pointing at the surprised goon. Shooting that guy was out now, because it risked damaging the cyberware in his head. So wounded, bloodied Snips stormed forward and beat him up until he collapsed. Adelard helped her; Kendal took the keys to the car, Wispa and Bruno loaded up. Randal kept fighting the last goon but got shot: The reliable old trooper died in this street, after so many brushes with death.

Even more reinforcements came from inside, and Snips, and the target, were in danger. So Leah the hacker opened up on the whole entrance area with the machine pistol, laying down suppressive fire like a Marine machinegunner. She got hit twice by return fire, but took it, and kept shooting, until the enemies had enough and ducked down into cover and stopped trying. Good thing that she had gone out into the waste with 40 shots!

Snips dragged the unconscious cyber-holder into the car, everyone climbed on, although the fallen had to be left behind — and with them their precious cyberdecks.

Four Wheels

But even more precious was the car!
Finally a full four-wheeler, a mean machine that ate fuel like crazy but could transport a team of 7 without trouble. Our old dream has come true, for a price paid in blood. This vehicle was actually worth much more than any fee for the job could ever make. The job was a bust, a net-loss of epic proportions. But the win of the car made up for it.

Two blocks away they stopped. Snips did the gruesome deed: she decapitated the unconscious gang-member and took only what was needed: The valuable head, with the cyberware implanted; like Royston had taken Woody’s mangled body.

The team made it home with the car and the mission accomplished… but Leah had enough and left, Martine Eloise and Randal were dead, Woody was dead, and two newbies. Even Wispa the sly fox, survivor of a thousand battles, had passed only with luck, and Snips had to twist no less than eight bullets out of her tough little, cyber-enhanced body. Any normal human would have succumbed to this much punishment, but Snips had come a long, long way from the little girl who had barely survived a hit with a stick.

Call of the Prairie

Adelard and Kendal stayed with her, but when she looked at them she saw Monroe’s face behind them, and young Diego Montez, and Alec, Metal, Martine, and all the others. Worst of all, she realised she could hardly remember the face of Pretty Boy.
Snips felt burned out. She heard the call of the midwest and the endless prairie, of happy childhood memories with no raiders, no gangers, where she was not compelled to lead whole families to the slaughter. Why the hell had she even left there? She could not remember.

She handed Adelard her rifle: “I need a timeout.”
He took it up: “No worries. I’ll hold down the fort until you are back!”

Snips 1 – Fighting Dogs
Snips 2 – Fighting Robots
Snips 3 – Fighting Swordsmen
Snips 4 – Fighting Kids
Snips 5 – Fighting Dreadnoughts
Snips 6 – Fighting Running from the Boss
Snips 7 – Fighting Cops
Snips 8 – Fighting in the Pharmacy
Snips 9 – Fighting Cats
Snips 10 – Fighting Lions
Snips 11 – Fighting Code
Snips 12 – Fighting Chaos
Snips 13 – Fighting Words
Snips 14 – Fighting Mechas
Snips 15 – Fighting in Cubicles
Snips 16 – Fighting Fire
Snips 17 – Fighting Frogmen

Snips 18 – Fighting Raiders
Snips 19 – Fighting Rivals

Snips 20 – Fighting Frog Commandos
Snips 21 – Fighting in Cyberspace
Snips 22 – Fighting Greed

Snips 23 – Fighting Butch Killers
Snips 24 – The Head of Alfredo Garcia

Snips Special: Messy Mission
Snips Special: Gentlemessy
Snips Special: Razor Clause
Snips Special: Pro Level

Snips Special: Adelard & the British Racing Green

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Photo by Brian Lundquist on Unsplash